Tag: Agora Core

The World

Agora Core is designed to be a D&D 5th edition campaign that takes place in a fantasy realm. The players participate remotely using Skype and Roll20.  You will get to meet the players through the Agora Core Episodes, but I will also post Player Character Profiles over the following weeks.  But what of the world they will inhabit, what is it like?

DaNis Map:

DaNis is a spectre of the place it once was.  The fertile plains have long since been swallowed up by the Da; the mysterious and constantly shifting desert. The river Nis is the life-blood of the lands and whilst it runs the land on either side continues to sustain life.  There are two main towns in this area – the port town of Nis-Ton is an important supply line to other settlements and Mid-Nis is a hub for the many clans and settlers in the area.

DaNis is an annex of the Kingdom of Thoregar, which stretches east, past the Hussarian Mountains into the lush basin of the Dudron before meeting the rocky halls of Tratridra and Vatet.  To the west lies miles of wasteland where only those crazy or cold-blooded enough survive in the fiery Arlatla.  The south is nought but sea but merchant ships do occasionally sail in from distant, exotic shores of which only books and stories tell; they normally leave DaNis disappointed with what they find.  To the north (once the Nis turns around) the road is rocky and baron and only those belonging to the mysterious Mara Society go on willingly.

Map production by Jon Paget, created using Inkarnate (Inkarnate.com).

Player Character Profile

Name: Hector Nyrna
Played by: Ben
Race: Dark Elf / Drow
Sex: Male
Class: Rogue
Strengths: Dexterity
Weaknesses: Intelligence

Unique features: A drow is an uncommon race on the surface world and so will attract attention.

Additional Notes from Player: Hector is a moody, vain, arrogant, durable fighter with a few tricks up his sleeve.  Background: A dark elf living in an underdark city. Has dreams of Ezakina, Archfey, lady of the Fey. They strike up a relationship. He is told that a medallion of hers is kept by someone high up in the drow ranks, She says she wants him to take and wear it. Will strengthen their connection. In exchange for entering her service, he will be rewarded. He sneakily steals it and flees the underdark to the upper lands…..

Development during series 1: Hector has lived up to his arrogant and durable fighter status.  He is not afraid to speak his mind or sleep if his surroundings do not interest him.  His visions show that the drow are seeking him and the medallion that he stole. Ben has provided plans for his level ups and as a Warlock, he may well encounter Ezakina again.

Character Portraits used: 60 Terrible Character Portraits for Creative Commons Release by ‘A Terrible Idea’

Agora Core Episodes

The final section of this blog is the episodes themselves. I have been recording the audio for each episode as we have gone on, since the beginning. I have then provided some background and allowed the rolls of the dice to be displayed on YouTube.

If anyone wants to recommend a better approach or if anyone likes this style, please let me know. Also, if the length of each episode could be shortened or is about right.

I will provide links when I refer to a particular episode, but series 1 (following the characters during their Level 1 character statuses) is now available to view.

Agora Core – Series 1

DM Notes

The other ongoing section of this Roleplay blog will be Dungeon Master (DM) Notes. This is a fun, section and a behind-the-scenes or perhaps more aptly behind-the-Schemes look at what occurs during the campaign. More likely than not, the players have not taken a road that the DM had prepared in advance, and very likely the players have not behaved at all predictably. This provides both awkward and delightful moments where the storyline rails are removed and anything goes. DM Notes will taker a closer look at elements of the storyline that went untold or were unravelled!

Characters

As part of creating any roleplay, characters are an essential part of it, especially when you factor in the Player Characters (PC) who drive the story and are the reason for creating the roleplay scenarios – to be played out and to see what happens next. Along the way, the Player Characters will meet many intriguing, charming, dangerous, downright despicable, duplicitous or law-abiding non-player characters (NPCs) with whom they can interact. This section will aim to give you the lowdown on who these characters are, what their purpose was and how ‘fleshed out’ they really were.

Welcome!

I started creating this roleplay back in late 2015 as I had developed a craving. This wasn’t a simple itch, it was deeper than that. I had run weekend roleplays before, collaborating with other Dungeon Masters (DM)/Games Masters (GM) within the friendship groups that shared the love of fantasy and storytelling along with my Brothers and myself. These could be very rewarding but also very frustrating because the amount of work didn’t amount to the gameplay length – this was especially true with collaboratively run roleplays where ideas could be sacrificed for a cohesive storyline or if players wanted to stick with certain groups.

So my deeper itch involved taking the time to create a new fantasy roleplay from scratch and finding players who were prepared to do it for the long haul – from Level 1 and up!

The other desire was to try and use the new 5th Edition of Dungeons and Dragons. This was designed to be a lot simpler than the system I was used to – version 3.5 – and relied more on story-telling. I had also taken the time to develop a character creation system in excel, and wanted to put it to good use.

As I type, we are nearing the end of the players’ time as Level 2 characters. It has been very interesting seeing how the players have interacted with the storyline and with each other. This has affected my levels of preparation and style as a DM and it will continue to evolve along with the players as we learn about the roleplay system and about the world known as Agora Core.